IHOP announced Thursday the national rollout of IHOP N’ GO, the all-day breakfast brand’s online ordering platform.
A mobile ordering app is slated for release before the end of the year, the brand said.
The DineEquity unit is also testing third-party delivery in select markets through Amazon.com Inc. and DoorDash.
The IHOP N’ GO platform expands a soft test launch of online take-out ordering conducted earlier this year at select locations. The online ordering platform is currently accessible via IHOP.com.
“We wanted to make sure we had the fundamentals right before we got into accelerating them,” brand President Darren Rebelez told Nation’s Restaurant News in an interview last week. He also said the delivery test will be expanded at the end of November to California, Texas, Oklahoma, Washington and Utah.
Rebelez discussed the challenges of successfully transporting cooked breakfast foods for off-premises dining, and explained how the brand spent about a year developing a unique takeout container that he said protects the pancakes at all costs.
IHOP also created a Meals to Go Specialist Certification program to train restaurant staff in every aspect of off-premises dining. All IHOP restaurants will have at least one certified team member on staff.
California-based DineEquity currently has more than 1,750 IHOP restaurants around the world.
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